These Businesses’ Social Media Blunders Will Leave You Cringing

21Jul

These Businesses’ Social Media Blunders Will Leave You Cringing

BlackBerry: Advertising the wrong phone.

Before iPhones ruled as the preferred smartphone, BlackBerry phones were all the rage. But in 2015, in an attempt to show off the sleek, new BlackBerry design, they ended up making iPhones look great. BlackBerry failed to realize that Twitter recognizes what phone you take your pictures on—and revealed that their tweet was in fact taken with the popular iPhone. Whoops.

American Apparel: Not doing their research.

In honor of July 4th, this trendy clothing company decided to post a picture of what they thought was smoke from a firework show on their Tumblr account. If they had done their homework, they would have realized the picture wasn’t of a fun 4th of July tradition; it was the aftermath of the tragic explosion of the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion that killed all seven of its crew members. After people started noticing this blatant mistake, the company claimed the employee who posted it was born after 1986, and was unaware of the event. Proving that double checking facts before posting anything is always a great idea.

DiGiorno : Blindly using hashtags.

Using hashtags is a great way for companies to garner brand ambassadors, and to start a conversation with their loyal customers. In an attempt to hop on the hashtag bandwagon, DiGiorno decided to blindly adopt the hashtag, “#whyistayed” in reference to staying at someone’s house because they had DiGiorno Pizza. They failed to realize the #whyistayed hashtag was actually used to represent the women who were victims of domestic violence. Major whoops. The hashtag was used to help domestic violence victims share their stories and help others who were stuck in the same kinds of relationships. It definitely wasn’t about a cheap pizza you buy in the freezer isle at Vons…can you say #epicfail?

Epicurious: Because when in doubt, scones.

Nothing screams tasteless advertising like when a company shamelessly plugs their product into a somber acknowledgment of a national tragedy. During the Boston Marathon bombing, Epicurious, a popular food magazine, made an extremely tacky tweet saying, “In honor of Boston and New England, may we suggest: whole-grain cranberry scones!”. Needless to say, this shameless advertising didn’t go unnoticed.

IHOP: Nothing goes with sexism like a short stack.

IN 2015, IHOP decided to tweet widely known sexist remarks alongside their delicious pancakes. While the one-liners were trying their best to be cheeky, it was only a matter of time before followers started noticing this blatant sexism. While some felt IHOP’s irate followers were being over sensitive, most people were seriously offended by the lack of thought behind these irresponsible tweets.